Alex Kingston

Alexandra Kingston or Alex Kingston was born on the 11th of March 1963 in Surrey. She is one of the three daughters of an English butcher and a German housewife. She is best known for her appearance in NBC’s ER as Elizabeth Corday.

Alex grew up in the outskirts of London, in Epsom. She was inspired to pursue acting by her uncle, her mother’s brother, Walter Renneisen. She attended an all-girls grammar school and one of her teacher saw her talent and encouraged her further. After grammar school, she attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts where she completed a two year program. The following the program she went to join the most prestigious theatre company, the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Then she appeared in several British television dramas. She was seen in Crocodile Shoes, The Knock and Moll Flanders. She also appeared in The Cook, the Thief, his Wife and Her lover in 1989. In 1994 she did A Pin for a Butterfly. She also had a starring appearance in The Bill. Then in 1997 she rose to stardom when she joined the medical drama series ER on its fourth season. She played Elizabeth Corday a British surgeon from England. She played the role of Elizabeth until season 11. She left ER in 2004. While still with ER she did Croupier in 1998 and Boudica, or Warrior Queen as it was released in the US, in 2003 playing the lead role Boudica.

Though she is no longer a regular in television Alex is still active in many movies made for television and in films. In 2006 she appeared on stage in the West End production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. She played the character of Nurse Ratched opposite Christian Slater who played Randle Patrick Mc Murphy.

That same year Alex admitted being rejected for a role in Desperate Housewives for being too curvaceous. She also admitted that she contemplated committing suicide after her separation with her ex-husband Ralph Fiennes.

Alex met husband Ralph Fiennes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts where they were both students. They had a long romantic relationship for about ten year before they committed to marriage in 1993. With just four years after their marriage, they divorced when Fiennes left her for Francesca Annis. Annis is also an actress but almost twenty years his senior.

In 1998 Alex married German Florian Haertel, a freelance writer and photographer. They have a child, Salome Violetta, who was born in 2001.